^'°^lS^"] -^ec^'^^ Literature. 351 



and, he adds, ''with the able assistance of Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe," he no 

 longer hesitated to make a commencement. The work has been carried 

 ont on the lines projected by Salvin, and conforms in classification, with 

 slight alterations, to Salvin 's Catalogue of the "Petrels in the British Museum 

 Catalogue of Birds. His collaborator, Dr. Sharpe, " lived to see the prac- 

 tical conclusion of the Monograph and to revise the proofs of all but the 

 last few pages." 



The concluding Part V treats of the Dr\-ing Petrels (genus Pelecanoides) 

 and the Albatrosses, which niuiiber 19 species, referred to the three genera 

 Diomedea, Thalassogeron, and Phcehetria, — perhaps the most interesting 

 and in some respects the most difficult group of species to deal with in the 

 whole order Tubinares. As in pre^^ous parts, the treatment is technical, 

 historical and biographical, not only the history of each form being given, 

 but also a summary of its life history and distribution, so far as these are 

 known. This part also includes, besides the index and introduction to the 

 whole work, a contribution by W. P. Pycraft ' On the Systematic Position 

 of the Petrels' (pp. xv-xxi), and the 'Classification' (pp. xxxiii-lv), con- 

 taining the diagnoses of the genera and higher groups, and keys to the 

 species. The number of species recognized is 124, of which 104 are figured. 

 The three largest genera are Oceanodroma with 13 species, Puffinus with 25, 

 and (Estrelata with 32. As the nomenclature is strictly binomial, 'species ' 

 here means forms, many of which are apparently reducible to subspecies. 

 The reader may be assured, however, that he will find here the substance 

 of what is known of their status and relationships, given with full refer- 

 ences to the original sources of information. It is almost needless to add 

 that the plates are excellent, and that the letter press and general execu- 

 tion are of the high standard well-known to characterize the works of the 

 publishers, Witherby and Co. — J. A. A. 



Coward's ' The Vertebrate Fauna of Cheshire.' — This work, in two octavo 

 volumes,' adds another excellent monograph to the long list of recent con- 

 tributions to a detailed knowledge of the fauna of the British Islands. 

 Its scope is the whole vertebrate fauna of Cheshire, a county in the north- 

 west of England, bounded on the west by Liverpool Bay and the estuaries 



1 The I Vertebrate Fauna of Cheshire | and Liverpool Bay | Edited by 1 T. A. 

 Coward, F. Z. S. ! Author of "Picturesque Cheshire." | In two Volumes | .... | With 

 ilhistrations from photographs by | Thomas Baddeley | Witherby & Co. | 326 High 

 Holborn | London | 1910. — 2 vols. 8vo, 26s. net. 



[Vol. I.] The Mammals and Birds of Cheshire | By | T. A. Coward and C. Oldham, 

 F. Z. S., M. B. O. U. I Authors of the "Birds of Cheshire" 1 — Pp. xxxii + 472, 34 

 half-tone plates. 



[Vol. II.] The Dee as a Wildfowl Resort | By John A. Dockray | — | The Reptiles 

 and Amphibians of Cheshire | By T. A. Coward and C. Oldham, F. Z. S., M. B. O. U.| 

 Authors of 'The Birds of Cheshire" | — | The Fishes of Cheshire and Liverpool 

 Bay I By James Johnstone, B. Sc. (Lond.) | Author of "British Fisheries" and 

 "Conditions of Life in the Sea" | Pp. xl + 210, 14 half-tone plates, text illustrations, 

 and map. 



